Busy Busy Busy

When I got up yesterday, it was a typical autumnal morning, and the plant in our garden looked like it had been visited by the crystal fairy overnight Each of the leaves had tiny water drops frozen onto it, that looked like it had been covered in shiny crytals.

With rain forecast for later in the day, we decided that today was a perfect day to make some preserves with the bag of crab apples that we had collected the day before.

Halve the crab apples, do not peel or core them, and put them in a heavy pan with 3 cloves per 1kg of apples.

Cover with water, and then bring to the boil.

Turn down the heat and simmer until all of the apples are soft - don't give them a hand to break down by squashing them as this will turn the jelly cloudy.

When all of the apples are soft, strain off the liquid through a jelly bag, or butter muslin.

Measure the liquid and return it to the pan, after emptying the apple pulp (does anyone know what to use the pulp for, I hate just throwing it away but don't know what else to do with it?)

Add 450g of preserving (Jam) sugar per 600ml of liquid, and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has disolved, then boil until the liquid reaches setting point -(when a spoonful dropped onto a cold saucer wrinkles when pushed).

Pour into warmed, sterilised jars and seal. The picture doesn't do justice to the colour, which is a rich pink.

After helping make the Crab Apple Jelly, No 2 decided that he wanted to make some mini lemon meringue pies. I'd taught him how to make a large pie a couple of weeks ago and he has been making it regularly since. Funny as he hates cooking at school!

He made the pastry by putting 70z plain flour, and 3 1/2 0z of diced butter into the food processor and mixing until it looked like breadcrumbs, then mixed in 1 beaten egg yolk (keep the white for the meringue), 3 tbsp milk, 1 3/4 oz icing sugar and the grated rind of 1 lemon (you will need the juice later).

When mixed he put it onto a floured board and kneaded it briefly then wrapped and left to rest for 30 mins.

He then rolled out and cut circles to line a deep bun tin, and baked blind at 180oc for 15 mins.

He lowered the heat to 150oc

Whilst the cases were blind baking he started what he finds the fascinating bit. (cloudy cornflour mix turning transluscent, and clear eggs turning opaque, I'm sure there is a scientific explaination but I don't know what it is much to his disgust:-))

He mixed 3 tbsp of cornflour with 10 fl oz of water.

Added the grated rind of 2 lemons

Juiceed the 3 lemons he had so far used and added to the cornflour mix.

Brought to the boil whilst stirring, and as if by magic the cloudy liquid turned a transluscent yellow! (sorry rubbish picture)

He turned down the heat and cooked for another 2 mins stirring constantly. Removed from the heat and left to cool for a couple of minutes, measured out 6 oz of caster sugar, and separated 2 eggs. Added 5 tbsp of the sugar and the beaten yolks to the mixture, mixed well then added to the pastry shells. In a separate bowl he beat the 3 egg whites until stiff then whisked in the remaining sugar. Spread over the tarts and mad into little peaks. Baked for 25-30 mins for the small tarts or 40 mins for a pie.

And you have pudding! If they last that long.

N0 2 now has the bug and has decided to make Rosemary Jelly tomorrow - I just wish the enthusiasm included the washing up!

Why?!

On Friday night our quiet evening was disturbed by what can only be described as a selfish idiot!

Hubby was reading the paper, I was baking, and No1 & No 2 were in their bedrooms listening to music, when there was a load thump thump thump on the front door, so loud that it sounded as though someone was going to break the door down.

I met hubby in the hall as he was opening the front door to see what was going on, and No1 swiftly followed by No 2 quickly appeared. We all ran outside to see a figure disappear around the side of the house....at this point I have to point out that we live down a dead end lane away from the main road in a small village, so not an easy place to come across by chance. Hubby, plus No1 & 2 took off after the idiot and I stood by the gate with my marble rolling pin still in my hand from the baking. Unfortunately, or fortunately for the idiot, who appeared to be a fully grown male, he got away by jumping the fence into the field behind our house, before his pursuers in bare feet or slippers got there, scaring the sheep in the process, and escaping into the darkness.

My question is what on earth possesses someone to go up to a front door, hammer on it and then run away (especially given the location of our house, he couldn't just have been passing)? On this occasion I think the idiot got more of a fright than we did, I'm sure he wasn't expecting two 6ft rugby players and an irate hubby to give chase or for a mad woman with a rolling pin to stand guard over the gate. However it could easily have been a cottage belonging to an old person and can you imagine how frightened they would be especially if they lived alone....! The thing is that if the idiot had been caught or had tried to make his escape via the easy route of the gate and had been given a swift swipe across the arse with a rolling pin for his troubles it would probably have been us who would have been in trouble rather that the imbecile who was out to frighten innocent people in their own home!

Why are some people so selfish!?

Sorry folks, that's my rant over now.
Take care all

I'VE BEEN TAGGED

Well twice actually, by Helen at the crackled horse company and Kim at Oakmoon .
The rules are:

1.Link to the person who tagged you

2.Post the rules on your blog

3.Write 6 random things about yourself

4.Tag 6 people at the end of the post, link to them

5.Let each person know they've been tagged

6.Let tagger know when entry is up

So, here are the 6 random things about me.

1. I designed and my husband built out own home on land he inherited.

2. Both our son's were 60cm (just under 2ft) long when they were born

3. I failed a driving test by following a car the wrong way up a one way street

4. When I got married I had a 20 inch waist - but no longer unfortunately, see No 2 LOL

5. I am terrified of water, deeper than I am tall, so am stuck on our little Island as I won't fly over the water either - looks like my ambition of travelling to New Zealand has hit a hitch then!

6. The Rolling Stones drummer, Charlie Watts, used to live in the next village to me when I was a teenager, so growing up we village kids didn't bat an eyelid when some very famous rockers were seen around the village.

I would like to tag, in no particular order:

Suzie at Suzie Sews

Andrea at Andrea Fays

Trace at In my little World

Diana at Pebbledash

Pipany at Pipany and the Poltisko Memoirs

Sally Ann at Quite a handful


Thanks for taking part, but only if you want to, of course :)

ROOM WITH A VIEW

On getting home from work on Friday, I was met by No 2 son who presented me with a bandaged arm that had been redressed 3 times over the course of the day by the school first aider and had now soaked through yet again - he had falled over running for the school bus badly cutting his elbow and grazing his arm, but had carried on to school, without getting it looked at because he was insisting on playing a house rugby match! I redressed his arm and took him off to casualty to get it looked at, but would you believe it when the doctor took of the dressing it had stopped bleeding! The nurse and Dr were really pleasant, I apologised for what I now saw as wasting their time, but they said that it was absolutely fine and they needed to check for any damaged that might have been done or gravel in the cut - they dressed the cut yet again and off we went......just the way to start the weekend!

When we got home I was pleased to see that a neighbouring farmer has put a few of his sheep back into the field behind our house.

Look at the view I'm getting again from our kitchen window!

A lovely distraction whilst I'm doing the washing up.

The sheep are so tame that they will come and 'talk' to you if you have the window open or go to the fence to see them, after they have been in for a week or so they get used to the sound of our car and will come to the fence to greet us when they hear it. (Sorry the picture below is a bit fuzzy)

Thank you all for your comments on my last posting about buying local. It seems there are like minded people across both hemispheres who are passionate about supporting local suppliers where they can. Listening to the doom and gloom on the news this morning, about how we are all running low on oil stocks and will need to look at alternatives, we are already ahead of the game, buying straight from producers that are as near as possible to where we live and the more we buy the more producers there will be and the prices may become affordable to more people - a positive perpetuating circle for once.

Buy Local

Like most other people I do some of my shopping at the supermarket, but try whenever possible to use the home delivery service -less temptation to deviate from my shopping list, and more eco friendly as one vehicle is delivering to many homes in the area rather than individual car journeys, they also if I'm honest frustrate me...why do I need to look through 25 different types of baked beans when I want something to go on our toast? I was discussing shopping habits with a friend recently, yes I know I have such riveting conversations, and realised how lucky I am with the shops that I have locally, not to mention brilliant farmers markets in my 4 nearest towns!

My local post office/village store, sells home made cakes, quiches, jams and marmalades, the 3 fruit above is one of no 2 son's favourites and just as nice as any expensive brand you can buy. Coming up to Christmas, they also make Christmas cakes and puddings, and I always buy their home made pickles to top up those I've made myself.

I treated us to one of their homemade apple cakes when I was last in, I normally make them myself but just couldn't face baking that night.

A swarm of locusts , AKA my teenage sons, seem to have taken over the kitchen as by bedtime this was all that was left!

It looks like I'm going to have to get baking to keep up, we have plenty of apples on the trees in the garden, and my hens are still laying at the moment. They usually have a rest for a couple of months, and I don't think that will be far away.

I use my local village shops every week. I have milk from the dairy at one, veg from another, and meat from the butchers and bread from the bakers in another. I know that I am very luck that in my village and the 2 neighbouring ones I have such a choice. I work in the town and it would be easy for me to pop into the supermarket to buy what I need, but I firmly believe in supporting the local shops and suppliers whenever I can.

In the lastest round of Post Office closures we were incredibly lucky that none of our PO's shut, if they had I think that the village shops would struggle to keep going. During the floods last summer the roads out of the villages were blocked, necessitating a 40 mile trip each way along the motorway if you wanted to get into town, rather than the usual 6, and the number of people using the village stores increased no-end. These people were happy for the shop owners to do this trip for them to save them the hassle, yet as soon as the road opened they deserted the local shops again, seemingly forgetting that without daily customers they may not be around if we are unluckly enough to get marooned again. The little shops can never totally replace a trip to the supermarket, but you can get much of what you want, and more importantly the owners will get things in especially for you. When I was icing my Christmas cake last year, they didn't have any glycerine so let me use some of theirs. It is also a more friendly environment, not rushed, which allows small children to learn how to pay for shopping, you regularly see small children counting out their pocket money to buy fruit or sweets, or paying for their mummy's shopping without being pressured to hurry up.....can you imagine that in Tesco!

So lets back the local shops, and encourage others to do the same...as the saying goes "use them or lose them".

Wow what service!

Just had to give an update on my Amazon order.....and no I don't have shares in the company given the plugs I have given them in my last two posts.

When my parcel was delivered, the two ends of the package were undone, and on checking the contents I found that a small book was missing. I e-mailed Amazon last night to let them know, and early this morning received an e-mail to apologise for the missing item and to say that a replacement had been dispatched, now how is that for service!

The last time I contacted them was when my son's playstation broke, just days within the end of 12 month warrantly period, again a new one was dispatched the next day, along with a label so that I didn't have to pay return postage for the broken one

Well done folks and I think you could teach a few companies a thing or two about how to treat their customers. Amazon doesn't have anywhere for customers to post comments, so thought I would publish my thanks via my blog.

Amazing Amazon Part 2

Well I've thoroughly enjoyed trawling through my books, so can now share my other purchases with you...I have to say Amazon are wonderful, from when you order you know exactly where your parcel is at any moment, great for impatient people like me, and if you ever have to contact their customer service dept because of a problem they are the most helpful people I have come across!
Anyway back to my books;

I have seen Ginny's book featured on a number of blogs and just had to buy a copy for myself, it arrived with my Christmas books, and I am not disappointed.

I just love this peg bag - I try to line dry our clothes whenever I can, not only does it save money and is kinder to the environment that tumbling, but you can't beat the smell of clothes dried in the fresh air can you? My pegs are currently housed in a plastic container that has definitely seen better days, so this is just the thing to replace it.

More ideas for Christmas stockings, you can never have too many can you, they make great wrappings for presents as well as decorations dotted around the house.

Whilst I was looking for Nigella's christmas book I found the latest from Sarah Raven. A lovely mix of recipes and floral offerings.

I just love this wreath, a sort of hedgerow wreath I think.

And after collecting your flowers, what better than cream cakes?

Food and books, there seems to be a theme going on in my posts at the moment!

Don't forget the latest series from River Cottage starts tonight at 8pm on channel 4, I just love these programmes.

Amazing Amazon Part 1

When I checked out Karon's wonderful blog this morning, I saw that she had just the latest culinary offering from Nigella, I had just ordered a copy for myself and couldn't wait for it to arrive. Amazon delivered right on queue, and when I got home from work I was greated by a lovely parcel, with my christmas books inside.

The latest Nigella creation of course, I just love the way she writes, she makes you feel like you have a chatty friend encourging you in the kitchen.

This lovely pecan pie stood out for me, we all love pecans, so this will definitely be on the make list.

and these lovely brownies, just right with a cup of tea after the rigours of christmas preparation.

Next out of the box was this wonderful follow up to A taste of organic life brilliant and easy ideas for a sustainable, home made christmas. Again Sheherazade (isn't that a beautiful name, it was on my list if we'd had a girl!) Goldsmith writes in such a friendly, easygoing way that it instills confidence in the readers.

Instructions for a lovely rustic hessian stocking.

Or some home baked walnut bread, just right straight out of the oven, with a mixture of cheeses and a cup of hot chocolate, when you have been out in the garden in the frost

Ideas for a homemade food hamper, plus lots of others.

And some wonderful floral table decoration ideas, these are great autumnal decorations as well as for your Christmas table.

I particularly like the box filled withe hellebores, always a lovely sight in the middle of winter.

I will post details of the rest of my parcel later, I'm off now to get my nose stuck into to my books so might surface again by morning!

Before I go, there is a new member who has just joined the blogging community. Check out Helen she is also looking for others to join her in a craft fair in Tunbridge Wells in December, so if anyone is interested she will welcome you.

INSPIRATION

Today I wandered into town in my lunch break for the first time in weeks. I have to say I dislike major or even minor towns intensely, preferring to use the local village shops or the nearby market towns. Still today I ventured into the main shopping area and dropped in at M & S, and was rewarded for my effort by finding a new book - and of course I couldn't walk away without adding it to my ever growing collection, with the excuse that I needed to buy it for inspiration for Christmas gifts. I have previously said that I am going to make all of my gifts this year instead of buying them.....does buying the books with recipes or instructions count as cheating I wonder? It has lovely easy truffle recipes to make - a gift to myself perhaps ;)

And some wonderful butter biscuits - to my colleague Lyn who is thinking of starting her own grumpy old woman blog, I'll bring some in when to share when you design your blog!

Some chocolate drizzled buttermilk biscuits

And some biccies for Rover!

A treat for the adults, some Brandied Cherries

or some raspberry mint vinegar - ooh a wonder taste of summer :)

or even home made pesto.

Plus loads of other ideas - can't wait to get started, roll on half term.

And lastly a quote for today.

Never judge a man 'til you've walked a mile in his moccasins.

- native american proverb

BARGAIN

In the middle of the summer, did we have one this year?! I made this beautiful bag.......No not really, I wish I was that talented! but I purchased it from Pia Jewellery

It's in a beautiful deep plum velvet, with an olive green (faux silk) lining,.....

and amazing silk roses ........

and embroidered leaves ......

and flowers on the front...sorry but yet again my camera has failed me with colour, or is that a poor workman blaming his tools? :-)

Why I'm so pleased with myself is that it was half price, something to do with the colour being out of season! Of course now the berries are back in it has gone back up to normal price - sometimes its good to just buy what you like without worrying if it's in fashion.

They currently have a dusky pink - is that a summery colour? in their sale, but I'm not a pink person.

And for those who enjoyed the quote the other day, here is another one;-

Patting a fellow on his back is the best way to get a chip off his shoulder

- anonymous

A THOUGHT

I'm quite mind drained this evening having spent the day on a quite intense training course so no long post or even a picture today - sorry.

I thought I'd just leave a thought, which I read the other day , it's very thought provoking whether you are 8 or 80.

It's never too late to be what you might have been.

George Eliot

AUTUMN BERRIES

Well at last I've finished a couple of projects that I've had lying around since last year, and guess what I'm so in fashion as the colours are in the berry that is so in vogue this winter. Sorry but the colours have come out really badly, so I've done my best to describe them.

This is a really long scarf that is in a rich red chenille, and amazingly is knitted on just 3 stitches - I've also knitted a wider scarf for when it is really cold.

The long loops along the scarf mean that when you loop it round your neck it falls in lovely waterfalls, or if you use it as a long skinny it still has some interest.

I had a few balls of textured wool that I just knitted in plain - again sorry the picture is awful, but the colours in real life are great, cream, raspberry, dusky pink, grey and dark cherry. It is so warm and snuggly I'm hoping for some snow as I think I will swelter otherwise.

It's funny but like Diana http://pebble-dash.blogspot.com/2008/09/off-with-old-on-with-new.html I only tend to knit in the winter, during the summer months my needles just sit collecting dust, and then as soon as the weather begins to change I have a mad panic about getting things finished. I wonder if others are the same.

p.s. can anyone tell me how to add a link without having the whole string show up please?